Frozen pensioners launch new petition

A collection of expat British pensioners have launched a new petition that they hope will further their cause of overturning the frozen pension rule.

Given the title “End the unfair frozen overseas pension policy” the petition has been posted on the UK Government’s own petition website by the International Consortium of British Pensioners (ICBP). Under a new initiative, the UK Government has stated that any petition that gains more than 100,000 signatures will become eligible for discussion in the House of Commons.

If this many signatures were achieved then the topic could be debated in Parliament, which is the aim of the ICBP. ICBP spokesman John Markham feels that this petition is “the perfect opportunity for British citizens and those resident, or normally, resident in the UK, to take action against the unfair freezing of pensions.”

Mr Markham also stated that the new petition system could give the opportunity for MPs to show their support, something that was an issue when they launched an Early Day Motion: “When we tabled the EDM, many MPs said that they would like to support our cause but as a matter of principle do not sign EDM .Therefore, this petition also provides them with the perfect opportunity to show their support.

The frozen pension situation currently affects thousands of British pensioners who have retired abroad in certain countries. Lumbered with pensions that are frozen at the rate at which they first started drawing them, many OAPs struggle to live on what are now meagre pensions.

Find out more about returning abroad, and avoiding the frozen pensions issue, by learning about QROPS pensions transfer, or speak to a recommended IFA.